Title

Kniga sistima ili Sostoianie muhammedanskiia religii

Full title

Short Title

Kniga sistima ili Sostoianie muhammedanskiia religii

Title in English

Book [called] System or structure of the Muhammadan religion’‘On the etymology of the name Qur’an

Printer

Imperial Press (V tipografii tsarstvuiushchago Sankt"piterburkha)

Released place

Saint Petersburg

Released date

1722

Author

Dmitrie Cantemir

Language

138

Qur'an

Qur'an structure

Suras

Pages

404

Further notes

Sources

Arabic Type

Link to library catalogue

(click me)

Bibliographical references:

https://www.zotero.org/groups/2447618/euqu_european_quran/collections/8N8N9JV3/tags/Dimitrie_Cantemir/collection

Individuals

Descriptive card

From Olar (2020): "The 1722 edition of Kniga sistima has at the beginning an engraving depicting Osman’s founding dream: the tree representing the rise of the Ottoman Empire springs forth and covers Asia, Africa and Europe, but its branches are poisonous snakes. The Foreword equally suggests a very polemical approach; it treats ‘the law of Muḥammad’ as an animalistic ‘law for pigs’ and states that the aim of the book is to fortify the Christian faith by exposing the errors of Islam – indeed, Cantemir’s perspective is that of a Christian convinced by the absolute truth of his own faith. Kniga sistima ili sostoianie muhammedanskiia religii has six parts: on the false Prophet Muḥammad; on the Qur’an; on the Muḥammadan Apocalypse; on Muḥammadan theology; on the Muḥammadan religion; and on other Muḥammadan teachings, which includes a description of the Sufi brotherhoods. Cantemir’s text is a comprehensive work on Islam, seen not only from a theological point of view but also from a social and historical perspective. The focus is on the Ottomans, but not exclusively, and there are moments when he praises Muslims, whether Arabs, Turks or Persians."

Entry author

Gulnaz Sibgatullina